SPEECH 



Hon. JOHN SHERMAN, 



SECRETARY OE THE TREASURY, 



DELIVERED AT 



TOLEDO, MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 187^. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN PRINTINi} Iini-SK. 

1878. 



J 



SPEECH 



Hon. JOHN SHERMAN, 



SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY 



DELIVERED AT 



TOLEDO, MONDAY^ AUGUST 26, 187 



DEC'"'2*T880 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 
NATIONAL REPUBLICAN PRINTING HOUSE. 

1878. 



'Th 



L(«s 



SPEECH 

OF 



HON. JOHN SHEKMAN. 



Fellow Citizens : When I informed the Republican State Committee that I 
could speak once in Ohio during my brief visit, they inquired if it would be agree- 
able to me to speak in Toledo. I promptly answered yes, for I knew that, though 
your political associations had been greatly disturbed by questions which sprung- 
out of the hardness of the times and the panic of 1873, you would yet give me a. 
patient hearing, and thus be able better to judge how far we disagree. 

I naturally suppose that you desire me to speak mainly on financial topics. My 
official position for many years in the Senate connected me with the financial legis- 
lation of Congress, and my jjresent office requires me to carrj^ into execution these 
laws. They relate mainly to the public credit, the public debt, our coin and cur- 
rency, and the system of taxes by which the Government is supported. These top- 
ics are necessarily interwoven with each other, but each canvass brings some of 
them into more prominence than others. 

QUESTIONS MOST DISCUSSED. 

Now the questions most discussed are those relating to silver and resumption. 
These are only branches of the cvirrency question, but they present the main diffi- 
culties in the administration of the Treasury Department, and will be mainly the 
subject of my remarks. The election this fall for members of the House of Rep- 
resentatives will practically settle them. There ought to be no partisan jr pei-sonal 
feeling about them, for we are all interested alike in promoting the common good, 
and in settling upon a sound basis the currency of the country. 

In undertaking to address you I will frankly and freely express my own opinion, 
but, while I remain in an executive office, I shall cheerfully and freely obey and ex- 
ecute the ^'udgment of my fellow citizens as expressed by Congress, or give way to 
some one who will do so. 

AMOUNT OF CURRENCY. 

AVhat I want is the largest amount of currency that can be maintained at par 
with the established coin of the country. From the diversity of our wants we must 
have many different kinds of money, to measure great wants and little wants. We 
must have coin money and paper money, and plenty of both. What I contend for 
is that, though our money may be of many kinds, it must all have the same i)ur- 
chasing power. The essential qualities of all good money arc stability, equality, 
and convertibility. The dollar of one kind should buy as much as the dollar of any 
other kind. Depreciated money cheats the ignorant and the unwary, and enriches 
the money changer. The poor man whose dependence is upon his daily labor is the 
victim of depreciated money, for he must take what is offered and is always paid in 
the poorest money. 

No distinction should be made between coin money and paper money, or be- 
tween the noteholder and the bondholder. The money provided by the Government 
should pay all debts and be used for all debts. 

Subject to these conditions I am for the largest amount of each kind of money 
demanded for the wants of business, and if you agree with me in these general 
propositions there will be no quarrel between us. 



MEANS OF EXCHANGE. 

Gold, silver, and copper, as well as the modern contrivance of paper money, 
are all useAil means of exchunge, and ought to be freelj' used and always main- 
tained at par with each other. 

]\Iiuor coins of baser metals arc indispensable for the innumerable small wants 
of life. To measure these wants silver coin would have to be too small in size, and, 
therefore, copper and nickel are used, but these metals are so cheap that if coined 
at their intrinsic value the coins would be too large for convenience; so, by common 
consent, the old copper cents are abandoned, and token coins of copper and nickel 
are issued at several times their intrinsic value, but are maintained at par by the 
necessity of their use, and by being redeemable in money of full value when pre- 
sented in considerable sums. 

Silver money is the best and most convenient for the market and shopping 
transactions of life. Silver coins are, by all odds, more numerous than coins of 
gold, even in countries where gold alone is the standard of value. The shillings and 
half 'crowns of Great Britain outnumber the sovereigns many times, and in tjie 
United States the silver coins issued from February 1, 18T5, to August 1, 1878, 
number 220,82'.),.j40, while the whole number of gold pieces issued during that 
time in the United States was 7,710,040. 

No form of paper money can profitably take the place of silver. Our old frac- 
tional currency was the best substitute ever devised, but this cost annually nearly 
4 per cent, to maintain it in decent condition, or nearly the interest of the money, 
while the amount lost, wasted and destroyed was a heavy tax upon the people who 
used it. It lasted on an average only fifteen mouths, while coin lasts thirty years. 
The largest possible use of silver and its freest circulation are indispensable to any 
system of money that can be devised, but it must be maintained in some way at or 
near the intrinsic value of other money. 

now SILVER MAY DISPLACE GOLD. 

If silver is coined at less than its market value and issued without limit it will 
as surely displace gold as water will displace air. Therefore, fractional silver is 
limited to $.-)(),0n(),O0O, and is issuetl only when required in exchange for United 
States notes. If it becomes too abundant it comes into the Treasury for taxes and 
is paid out only when demanded or willingly received. 

So the coinuig of the new silver dollar, though a legal tender for all purposes, 
is limited by law to from ^•2,000,000 to $4,000,000 a month. The silver in this d-^l- 
lar is worth less in the market than the gold or even the paper dollar, and, if issued 
witliout limit, the silver dollar will surely depreciate below the gold dollar, and will 
become the single standard of value. This is as certain as the march of time. 

GOLD INDISPENSAnLE. 

Rut gold also is an indispensable standard of value. It measures all the larger 
transactiims of business life. It is used as such by most christian and civilized na- 
tions cf the world, and its demonetization would be as great an injury as the de- 
monetization of silver. 

Now, fellow-citizens, I am in favor of so adjusting this matter that both met- 
als will circulate at par with each otlier ; that you will have gold eagles and silver 
dollars, and a dollar of either will purchase precisely the same commodities. 

now BOTH METALS WILI, ( lUC ULATE AT TAIt. 

This can be done while the market value of silver is lower than it should be in 
view of its legal ratio with gold, either. 

First, by limitinu' the amount of silver to be issued, or, 

Second, by readjusting the relative weight of coins, either by increasuig the 
weight of the silver coin, or lessening that of the gold coin, or equalizing them by 
increasing the weight of silver and lessening that of the gold, or, 

Third, by some plan to be adopted by the International Conference between bi- 
metallic nations now in session, which I'sincerely trust may arrive at .some practi- 
cal result. 

.Vnv i)lan to keep these coins on a par with each other will meet my hearty con- 
currence, but lam utterly opposed to any measure that will deprive us of the use 



of either of them, circulating sule by side, with equal purchasing power, at par with 
each other. I assure you, in all frankness, that the silver question must be solved 
in some wav, or we will have to adopt the single standard of silver like the Chinese 
and other Asiatic nations. 

And now. fellow-citizens, I come to the most important (question of this 
canvass. 

THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION OF THE CANVASS. 

Our paper currency is now happily brought very near to par with coin. 

Will you insist upon keeping it at par, or will you, by repealing the resiimptiou 
act, retrace the steps already taken, and embark again upon the sea of irredeema- 
ble paper currency? Shall our paper money hereafter be redeemable in coin upon 
the demand of the holder and be maintained at par with coin, or shall it be what 
its friends call a "fiat" money, irredeemable in coin, dependent upon the daily 
trade-marks of bankers and brokers for its value, and upon the changing majorities 
in Congress for its amount and quality '? 

This county of Lucas has always been a go 3d Republican county. It earnestly 
supported the administration of Abraham Lincoln, supported all the measures of 
the war, and in patriotic exertions and sacrifices for the cause of the Union was not 
excelled by any portion of the United States of equal population. It is to you as 
Republicans that I wish to address what I have to .saj' to-night. 

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY THE PARENT OP GREENBACKS. 

It was the Republican party which devised and issued the greenbacks, and 
which has thus far sustained them and advanced them by slow and gradual pro- 
cesses to par with coin. 

No doubt there have been honest differences, as it is natural there would be, 
as to tlie means l\v which the result has been brought about, but there should be 
no difference among Republicans as to the desire that the money contrived by their 
policy, and the chosen instrument by which the forces of the United States were 
marshalled during our war should be. made and kept equal to coin. 

However varying currents of public opinion or temporary depression of indus- 
try may tend to disturli the jjublic judgment, it should be the will and the duty of 
the great party to which we belong to make good the promises printed on the face 
of United States notes, esi^ecially when this is demanded not only by national honor, 
but by the clearest public policy. In this money, which is our own, we naturally take 
pride. We guarded it in its cradle when it was reviled and derided by our political 
adversaries, at a time when it was said it would wander like Cain with a mark 
upon its brow, dishonored and repudiated. We believed in it then and we be- 
lieve in it now. 

REDEMPTION PROMISED IN GOLD. 

When it was issued we promised to redeem it in coin, and every fresh issue 
was accompanied by a fresh promise. In 186G we not only, by law, promised to 
redeem it, but provided for the gradual contraction of its amount. In 18(iS we sus- 
pended the contraction but renewed the promise. In 1809 we solemnly pledged 
the public faith to redeem the notes in coin. 

No step, however, was taken for their redemption, and, under the stimulus of 
inflation, speculation ran riot, visionary schemes were entered upon, extravagance 
prevailed, until in September, 1873, the babble burst, prices fell, the wild delusions 
of the time were dissipated and business men had to face the inevitable evils that 
always come from irredeemable pai)er money. 

Then, after fifteen months' debate in Congress and before the people, as a 
remedy for the evils we were suffering, the resumption act was passed. Its only 
object was to make our ])aper money equal to coin. It was not the best possible 
measure, but was the only one that could be agreed upon. It was veiy general in 
its provisions, but it gave ample power to i)repare for and to maintain resumption. 

It did not abolish the greenback. On the contrary the greenbacks were ex- 
pressly to be retained to the extent of $300,000,000 as a part of the permanent cur- 
rency of the country, and, on the 1st of January, 1870, were to be made as good as 
coin, to be redeemable in coin, and to be issued and re-issued as the money of the 



people, the chief part of our paper currency. This was to be the fulfillment of our 
promises. This was our answer to those who said the greenback would never be 
redeemed. 

THE RESUMPTION ACT HAS VINDICATED ITSELF. 

And now, fellow citizens, the resumption act has vindicated itself. "We will 
l)e prepared when the time fixed shall arrive, to execute it and maintain it, with 
entire confidence in its happy effect iu the revival of business and the restoration of 
confidence. 

Four months before the tiiifie fixed, silver, gold, and paper are almost on a par 
with each other. 

A greenback will now buy within one-half of one per cent, as much provision, 
clothing, and other things as the best gold coin ever issued from the mint. The 
laboring man has a standard of value equal to that of the bondholder. The only 
promise unfulfilled by the Republican party is almost performed. 

The steps by which the result has been achieved were simple, lawful, and be- 
neficent, and, i)erhaps, it is best for me to state them as briefiy as I can. 

HOW IT WAS YINDICATED. 

Pirst. Silver coin has been gradually substituted for fractional currency. The 
-nmount of fractional currency redeemed to the ITtli of this mouth is $25,080,009. 
The amount of fractional silver coin issued to the same date is $:]!), 307, 680. Here 
has been no contraction, but an increase of over $14,000,000 current money by the 
substitution of a durable coin for an expensive and wasteful note. 

Second. A gradual retirement has been cff"ected of United States notes from 
$382,000,000 January, 1875, to .|;846,G81,01(). This reduction was made only as cir- 
culating notes were issued to national banks, and only to the extent of eighty per 
cent, of the notes so issued. This was to be continued until the amount outstand- 
ing was !?:50(),000,000, but Congress during the recent session, in view of the gen- 
eral desire to stop reduction, suspended it and fixed the amount of United States 
notes at |:34G, 081,010, the amount then outstanding. Though this adds to the difli- 
cultics of executing the resumption law, still I have entire confidence in our ability 
to maintain that amount in circulation. 

GOI-D ACCUMULATED AT THE UATK OF |5,000,000 PEK MONTH. 

Third. Coin has been accumulated in the Treasury in anticipation of resumption. 
' The iiuthority to thus accumulate is plainly given by the resumption act, and was 
-the chief means provided to secure and maintain resumption. ^My predecessors, no 
doubt believing that this accumulation ought not to commence during their terms, 
had taken no steps under the jirovisions of the resumption act. 

When I assumed the duties of my present office, after careful study of the 
whole subject, I determined that it would be necessary to accumulate, in addition 
to tlie surplus revenue, the sum of $100,000,000 of gold coin, and that it ought to 
be accumulated at the rate of $5,000,000 a month from the 1st of ]May, 1877, to the 
<late of resumption. 

it was confidently declared by those who opposed the law that it would be im- 
possible to accumulate this coin without putting np the price of gold, and thus de- 
feating the object, but the experiment shows that it was not only feasible but ad- 
vantageous to tlie current business of the country. 

We accumulatetl easily during eight months of the year 1877 at the rate of 
$5.0(il).00() a montli, with gold constantly declining in price. This process was ar- 
restcil by the deV)ates in Congress and the threatened repeal of the resumption act, 
bat wa'i again resumed in the spring of this year, when it was found still raor-. nsy 
to accumulate coin by the sale of 4^ per cent, bonds, and the original plan wu.. e.ve- 
cutcd sooner than was anticipated, by the rai)id sale of the bonds, so that on the 
10th of this month the Treasury of the United States was supplied with $20n,011.- 
75:). 15 gold and silver coin and bullion. 

PllEnsE CONDITION UK THE TUEAsrUV UELATIVE TO SPECIE. 

1 have received a recent statement from the Treasurer of the United States 
■which shows the p;ecise condition of the Tro.isury, in view of resumption, as 
follows : 



Treasury op the United States, 

"Washington, D. C, August 20, 1S78. 
Sib: I have the honor to advise you that, on August 10, 1878, there were in the Treasury as 
follows : 

Gold coin . ... $185,273,016 8o 

Standard dollars 10,386,-268 (0 

Gold bullion 6,539,657 89 

Silver bullion (),81'2,81-2 41 

$2-9,011,753 15 

Of which there will be required for the following payments : 

Unmatured calls of o-CO bonds $45,00O,O0il 00 

Coin certificates outstandin-j; on that date $43,721,370, less $17,105,180 

redeemed and in Treasury '2(!, 5-26, 190 00 

Principal of debt estimated to be due and unpaid on that date. . . . 4,000,(i0i) 00 

Ooin interest estimated to be due and unpaid at that date 4,(!0:t,0i)0 do 

$79,5-26,190 00 

Excess $l-29,48%563 15 

The Kold coin on hand, stated above at $185,'273,016.85, does not include redeemed gold certifi- 
cates, or any other coin item, but is actually gold coin. 

There was also in the Treasury of that "date $5,095,246.08 fractional silver coin. 
Very respectfully, 

JAS. GILFILLAX, 

Treasurer United States. 
Hon. .John Sherman, iiec'y of Treasury. 

$134,580,000 IN COIN available over all coin liabilities. 

It tlms appears that, over and above all coin liabilities, the Treasury has 
$12i),48.'),56o.l5, besides $0,090,240.38 fractional silver coin, available for resump- 
tion purposes without any charge or demand whatever against it, and supported 
by the power, if necessary, to sell bonds in aid of resumption. With this sum and 
with the powers conferred by law, I am satisfied that it is easy to maintain re- 
sumption, and such, I believe, is now the judgment of the best business men of 
the country, and of those most experienced in financial matters. 

I do not think it necessary to enter into more detail as to the plan of, or the 
ability to, maintain resumption, or as to the arguments for or against the measures 
adopted in aid of it, as the svtbject was thoroughly discussed in Congress and my 
own views full}' explained to the committees of Congress in interviews published 
by the Senate and House last winter, and no doubt accessible to you. 

EVERY STEP HAS BEEN OPEN AND FRANK. 

It is sufficient to say that since the passage of the resumption act every pi"om- 
ise and expectation of its friends has been justified by events, and every prophecy 
of its opijonents has ])een falsified. Every step in the process of resumption has 
been open, public, and frank, and beneficial in a business sense. 

All the evils which you have suffered are the direct result of the inflation of 
paper money and the panic which preceded the resumption act. The whole pro- 
cess of resumption has svibstantially been carried on since the 1st of ilay. 1877, and 
has been attended with reviving business and prosperity. The failures that have 
occurred during this time have been the direct result of engagements and contracts 
made before that date. 

And now, fellow citizens, the real (luestion is, shall we go forward and com- 
plete this process, or shall we go back again to the period of irredeemable morcy 
with its inevitable resulting consequence of expansion, inflation, and panic? As 
you are the judges of last resort on this question, I heg of you to consider some 
general principle gathered from the experience, not only of our own peojjle, but of 
all nations who hav^, at any period, maintained mixed standards of paper moue}'. 

WHEN IRREDEEMABLT: I'APER MONEY IS .JUSTIFIED. 

Irredeemable paper money is only justified by war carried to the extent of na- 
tional peril, when the life of the nation is at .stake. It ought to be redeem;i])le as 
soon as the public exigencies will permit. It is not money, but the promise to pay 
money. These are axioms of political economy, the truth of which all experience 
has demonstrated. 

AVe issued this money only in the midst of such a peril. 

Our error, if any, has been that we have delayed too long the measures of re- 
sumption. Now, when they are almo.st complete, and gold and silver and paper 



8 

money are practically convertible one into the other, when there is the same money 
for the bondholder and the noteholder, the rich and poor, when silver can be had 
for notes, and trold in ample store awaits the day of resumption, we Republicans 
should not debate the question of the repeal of the resumption act. 

WE AKE RIGHT AND WE SHOUI-D GO AHEAD. 

With all our promises on record, we should not be deluded by the cry for "fiat" 
money. Precisely what is the meaning of this phrase I do not krow, but I pre- 
sume 'it means a money that is not measured by any other, that is not redeemable 
in any other, but has its origin, force, sanction, and value in the mandate of the 
(rovernment, and will vary day by day in purchasing power. 

As between this kind of money and the old greenback regenerated, restored, 
convertible into coin, the standard of all value, and the medium of all payments, I 
am for the greenback against "fiat" money. 

A frreat nation like ours, rich in varied resources, with a free people of remark- 
able inrdligence, is not driven to resort to any expedients which would affect the 
public credit or the public debt, or disturb our harmonious relations in trade with 
foreign nations, but should adapt its money to the money of the civilized world, 
make it as good as any other money, and maintain its standard of value as high as 
that of any coin ever issued from the mint. 

Some of you who believe in "fiat" money say you desire the same result, but 
it is clear that vou can only maintain this money at par with coin, either by a care- 
ful limitation o'f its amount or by actual redemption in coin when demanded. If 
that is what you mean by "fiat" money, then we will not disagree, but it is well 
known that those who advocate "fiat "' money want to increase the amount beyond 
a sum tliat can be maintained at par with coin, and seek thus to cheapen money by 
making it less valuable than coin. 

WHO DESIRE CHEAP MONEY. 

1 can -magine how a man deeply in debt and hoping to escape bankruptcy may 
desire to cheapen the money in which his debt is to be paid, but why should a la- 
boring man whose daily toil is measured by the money hi; receives, desire to cheapen 
it ? \\'hy should a farmer who sells his productions for money desire to lessen its 
purchasing power? Why should a prudent, thrifty, industrious man engage in any 
occupation, and who hopes by his thrift and industry to accumulate for himself a 
competence, desire to have his labor measured by a money of unstable value ? It is 
the interest of every one engaged in industrial employments, and who is not a spec- 
ulator or a broker, to have a fixed standard of value. If any of you who labor or 
are farmers, mechanics, or belong to any of the industrial classes of life, have hope 
in a depreciated money, you are greatly misled. 

EVILS OF lUREDEKMABLE MONEY HERETOFORE. 

All the great men of our country, our Revolutionary fathers and their descend- 
ants in the war of 1812, and the statesmen of the days of General Jackson, deeply 
felt the evils of irredeemable paper money, and experience led them to the convic- 
tion that gold and sUver coin, or paper money well secured and convertible into gold 
and silver coin, was the best for all classes and for all iiulustries. 

In these general views in favor of resumption adopted by the Republican party 
we have had the sympathy and concurrence of a certain i)ortion of the Democratic 
party, who, thuugh they have always by instinctandhabit voted against every meas- 
ure of the Itepublican party from the beginning of the war to this time, even in the 
darkest hour of the war. have always professed to be in favor, and talked in favor of 
good money redeemable in coin. This class of Democrats, though they opposed the 
resumption act, did it because they declared it to be a hindrance to resumption, 
and denounced us because we did not resume sooner. This was the position of the 
last National Uemocratic (.'imvention. 

SENATOR THURMAN IN ACCORD WITH KEPUlil-ICAN POLICY. 

Senator Tliurman, mv colleague for many years in the Senate, was one of this 
class of Democrats, and, although our tinancial ineasuios did not exactly please him 
and ho generally voted agamst them, yet hn freely said, like Mr. Bayard and others, 



that he desired resumption and stood by the old Jackson Democracy in favor of 
hard money. The exigencies of party tactics have led him recently to make a 
speech, to which, with entire respect for him, I desire briefly to reply. ' So far as he 
seeks to show his consistency and concurrence with his fellow Democrats, it is a do- 
mestic matter, and I will not interfere, but some of the positions taken by him I 
must contest. He says : 

I think I do them no injustice wlieu I say that the loaders of the Republican party 
are in favor of directly the opposite course— that is to say, tliey would retire all tlie green- 
backs in order that their places might lie filled with national bank notes. 

SENATOR THURMAN'S ASSERTION EMPHATICALLY DENIED. 

Senator Thurman is greatly mistaken in this position. As T have already shown, 
the Republican party is not in favor of retiring the greenbacks in order that their 
]ilaoe may be filled with national-bank notes. 

Xo doubt some Republicans, like some Democrats, are in favor of the United 
States withdrawing from the business of issuing paper mouey, but the Republican 
party has never taken such a position, and now distinctly maintains the right and 
duty of the Government to keep in circulation such an amount of United States 
notes as can be readily maintained at i^ar with coin. 

In every law authorizing these notes there is a limit fixed to their amount. 

During the war the guarantee was made, and never has been violated, that the 
amount should not exceed $4U0. 000,000 and no authority has ever been conferred 
upon any officer of the Government to reduce the amount below $300,000,000, but 
now the minimum limit is fixed, as I have already stated, at 1346,681,016. 

SENATOR THURMAN WANTS NATIONAL BANKS ABOLISHED. 

In his speech at Hamilton, Senator Thurman openly advocates increasing the 
amount of United States notes outstanding from $346,000,000 to $668,000,000 by 
issuing United States notes in place of the national-bank notes outstanding He 
declares that the principal feature of the Democratic platform is the proposed sub- 
stitution of greenbacks for national-bank notes. He would thus render specie pay- 
ments impossible during this, and, perhaps, the next generation, and this at a time 
when specie resumption, which he has so strongly favoi'ed, is on the eve of success. 

THE POSITION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DEFINED. 

The position of the Republican party is in favor of greenbacks restored to their 
normal condition of paper money, equal to coin and redeemable in coin on the de- 
mand of the holder, while the position of the Democratic party, as stated by .Judge 
Thurman, is in favor of the issue and maintenance in circulation of $668,000,000 of 
United States notes without any provision whatever for their redemption or their 
conversion into coin. 

This issue is distinctly made, and for one I distinctly accept it. 

We favor paper money redeemable in coin, and the largest amount that can be 
maintained at par with coin, while he favors an amount of paper issued directly by 
the Government, not convertible into coin, with no provision for its redemption, 
and to an amount which no one has claimed can be maintained at par with coin. 

He says it is just as easy to maintain i^668, 000,000 greenbacks at par with coin 
as it is to maintain $346,000,000 greenbacks and $322,000,000 national-bank notes 
at par with coin. 

BANK NOTES PAYABLE IN GREENBACKS NOT IN COIN. 

But he forgets to state that the bank notes are payable in greenbacks and not 
in coin, and that they are to be redeemed by the banks at their risk and expense, 
and not by the United States. No coin reserve is needed by them for such redemp- 
tion. The issue of these notes aids in maintaining the United States notes at par 
with coin instead of obstructing it. 

The banks are required to keep in their vaults and in the Treasury of the 
United States an ample reserve of United States notes and bonds to redeem their 
notes, and thus give to the United States notes a use which tends to maintain them 
at par with coin. 

The whole btirden now resting tipon the Government is to maintain resumj^tiou 
upon the amount of United States notes, and this confessedly can be done by a coin 
reserve of from thirty to forty per cent., (which reserve we now have on hand."* 



10 

-while, if the whole amount of circulation, including national bank notes, was in 
United States notes, no coin reserve that could be reasonably secured and main- 
tained would be sufficient for the purpose of resumption. 

BANK NOTES NOT GOVERNMENT NOTES. 

The bank notes are not in any sense the notes of the Government. They are 
the notes of private corporations, amply secured, redeemed by them, maintained by 
them, or, if they fail to redeem them, the security can at once be applied to their 
redemption. This expedient of allowing a portion of the circulation to be issued by 
private corporations enables us to maintain in circulation nearly twice as much pa- 
per money as could be maintained at par in coin If issued directly by the Govern- 
ment. 

WHY THUKMAN's I'LAN is WRONG. 

His plan would directly violate the provisions of the loan laws, under which 
both United States bonds and notes are issued, and which limit expressly the amount 
of I'nited States notes to 1400,000,000. It would l)e a violation of the public faith, 
and would impair at once the public credit, and do inconceivably more harm than 
it could give profit to the Government. 

ThiiT scheme of his contlicts directly with the deci.sion of the Supreme Court of 
the United States, and would, no doubt, l)e held unconstitutional becaus'^ it pro- 
vides for a very large increase of United States notes in a time of profound peace, 
where no such exigency as is contemplated by the Constitution or decision of the 
Supreme Court exists to justify their issue. 

THE INEVITAELK EFFECTS OF THURMAN's POLICY. 

It would at once drive out of existence the whole system of national banks 
•which have been the means alone by which State banks have been prevented from 
issuing circulating notes. The only franchise the national banks receive from the 
Government whicli induces them to maintain their corporate existence, is the right, 
under limits tixed by law, to issue circulating notes. Take this from them, and 
they would at once cease, without exception, to be national banks, and would be 
organized again, as before the war, into State banks, with such powers as any 
State might give them. The inevitable ctfect of this policy would be to revive 
again the .system of State banks without any common organization, without anj' se- 
curity for their notes, upon such terms as any State might prescribe, and thus all 
the evils of State-bank money, which the people experienced before the war, would 
recur again. Nearly a generation has passed since the incongruous system of pa- 
j)er mtmey which existed l)efore the war was swept away by the national banking act. 

It is safe to say that the injury done to the people of the United States by the 
failure of State banks, by the imcertain value of their paper money, by its limited 
local circulation and by successful counterfeiting, was annually greater than the 
interest of the entire national bank circulation of the United States. 

BANKING CORPORATIONS THE WEAKEST MEMBERS OP A COMMUNITY. 

It is easy to oppose banking corp'^>i"atious. In.stead of having political power, 
they are the weakest members of a community. Say what you will of them their 
substitution for State banks was one of the wisest and most beuelicial acts of the 
general (Jovernment since the commencemeiit of the war. Personally I have but 
little interest in or feeling for natinual banks. But for the benetits derived from 
them, I would not care what became of them. Their continued existence ought to 
depend upon their ability, without co.st or trouble to the United States, to maintain 
their eirculating notes at par with United States notes or coin. If they fail in this 
they ought to be abolished. If they do it they ought to be continued. Scattered 
through the I'nited States, they are useful financial agents in exchanging the 
products of industiy and in localizing capital. They paid last year to the Govern- 
ment of the United States ."i!?, 07(1,087 in taxes, and for State and local taxes s;!).701,- 
732, or a total of !?ltl, 777,Sl!), or nearly four million more than .ludge Thurman 
estimates we will save to the people by issuing greenbacks instead of the bank 
notes. These taxes would all be lost to the United States and to the States if the 
national banks were abolished. Their notes are secured beyond peradventure; 
they are protected from counterfeiting far more successl'ully than any former sys- 
tem, and, to their credit bo it said, not one dollar has been lost on auy national 



11 

bank note ever issued. Wherever you go you may carry their notes with confi- 
dence, without examination as to where or when they were issued. They are good 
everywhere in the United States. 

thurman's objection to national banks considered. 

Senator Thurman has stated some objei^tions to the national banks, to wliich 
I will briefly reply. He says : 

In the first place a national bank currency means the indefinite perpetuation of the 
public debt. 

As a national bank exists only for twenty years from the date of its organiza- 
tion, and is liable at any time by act of Congress to be abolished, this does not 
seem a very potent objection. I am sorry to say that the prospect of paying our 
debt during the life of a national bank is not very flattering, nor is their existence 
likely to deter its payment. As for the influence of these institutions, so much 
feared by Mr. Thurman, it is not an object of alarm, for it cannot be combined, or 
if a combination were attempted, it could be overthrown by a single wave of pop- 
ular opinion. 

His second objection to the national banking system is " that it tends to com- 
bine, concentrate, and intensify the money power." 

This again is an illusive fear. There is no power in this country that is so 
weak in political management as what is called the money power. It never has 
been nor can it be concentrated so as to affect political questions. The tendency 
of our institutions makes it easy to combine at once political opinion and political 
power against it. 

NO ten bank presidents agree. 

Party organization is infinitely more powerful for combination than the money 
power. My own experience in office enables me to say that if you convene ten bank 
presidents you will have ten different opinions, while party organization brings even 
Judge Thurman and General Ewing on the same platform. 

Nor is it true, as stated by .Judge Thurman, that the legislation of Congress 
favored the money interest during the period of the sway of the Republican party, 
for this legislation was guided by the love of national unity and honor, and national 
existence.'' It tended to make our nation strong at home and respected abroad, and 
in no single question has it favored what is called the money interest. 

the vital issue between the two great parties. 

The vital issue between the two great parties has been, on the part of the Re- 
publicans, a desire to maintain the integrity of the Union and abolish slavery, to 
secure equal political and civU rights to all men, to maintain the national honor, and 
to advance the industrial interests of the country, while the theory and policy of 
the Democratic party has been to belittle the National Government, to subordinate 
it to the power of the States, to preserve slavery, to leave industry without protec- 
tion and support, and to sectionalize into petty communifeies the elements of a great 
and powerful nation ; and these are now, and will be in the future, the inevitable 
tendencies of these two parties. _ , 

The third objection stated by him to the national-bank circulation is that it is a 
special privilege and takes many millions out of the pockets of the people. This 
again is untrue in point of fact and illogical in argument. 

banks enjoy no special privileges. 

The national-bank circulation is not a special privilege, but is open to every 
association ^f five persons that may be organized in any part of the United States. 

To call it a special privilege is absurd,. The same privilege might be granted 
to every individual citizen of the United States, but experience shows that a corpo- 
ration is more wisely administered when it is composed of a number of persons, 
not less than five, than when it is controlled by a single jierson, and corporate au- 
thority is essential to preserve its existence in case of the death of a partner. But 
for this, the special privflece miglit be granted to every citizen who could give the 
requisite security for the redemption of the notes issued by him. 

As to putting money into the pockets of the shareholders, this again is absurd. 
The. Governmenrpayp nothing and contributes nothing to'a bank. The shareholders 



12 

buy the bonds of the Government anil dejiosit them with the Government for the 
security of the note-hoUlers. If the bank retires, tlie bonds belong to the share- 
hohlers :ui(l not to the (Tovernment. Nor can the Government pay tliese bonds in 
any other way than it could pay the bonds in tiie hands of individuals. The Govern- 
ment woulil pay the same interest on these bonds, whether held by the bank or 
by citizens, or in Europe. 

The reason why bonds are demanded as security is because they are the best 
security. But for this a mortgage security or a personal security might betaken, 
but as the Government security is the highest and best, this is demanded, not for 
the benelit of the Government, but for the note-holder, for whom the Government 
is a mere trustee. When the Government pays to the bank interest on bonds held 
by it as a security, it only pays what is justly due and what it would have to pay at 
all events to anybody holding the bonds until they are redeemed. 

How it takes many millions annually out of the pockets of the people is hard 
to conceive. 

No one borrows the notes of the bank unless it is for his interest to do so. The 
ability of the bank to lend is a convenience to the borrower as well as the lender. 
The Government cannot engage iuthis business of loaning money. It would be a 
sorry time for the people other than political striker.?, if the Government loaned 
money. This is purely a private, personal employment, that should he as free as 
blacksmithiug. The right to issue notes is free to all on the same terms, and when 
so guarded as to prevent loss to the note-holder, is the best possible means of in- 
creasing the amount of circulating notes. 

He says that the Government ought to issue these notes. The answer is, that 
ii'the Government issues them, it must undertake to maintain them at par with 
coin, or else th.e people must sutler from the evils of an irredeemable currency. The 
cost to the banks of this redemption is already so great, before specie ivxynients 
have actually come, that this so-called special privilege is getting to be a special 
burden, and more banks are surrendering their circulation than are taking circula- 
tion. It is a special privilege that more se;'k to avoid than to ac(|uire. 

Judge Thurman computes how much the United States would save if it issued 
$322,000,000 more of greenbacks and redeemed that amount of bonds. I do not 
stop to examine this computation, but I only wonder why he stopped at !?o22, 000.000. 
Why m t save the entire interest of the public del)t by i-^suing greenbacks for the 
whole of it ? Why not repudiate it at once ■' Tliat would, according to his compu- 
tation, save the entire interest of the public debt, or $93, 000,000 with no other loss 
than the loss of national honor. 

TIMELY t^UESTIOKS THAT THURMAK SHOULD ANSWER. 

What assurance has he that So22, 000,000 will satisfv the more advanced lights 
of repudiation ? How will he payout the 8322,000,000 -.> Will he claim the right 
to pay the bonds at par with them ? Does he deny the moral and legal obligation 
by wiiicli they are to be paid in coin ? Does he propose to repudiate the act 
of 1801) ■.' 

The immediate eli'ect of the commencement of such an issue would depreciate 
the notes lower and lower, would widen more and more the gap between the notes 
and coin, would revive again the distinction between the bondholder and the note- 
holder — gold for the bondholder and depreciated paper money for the people. It 
would at once stop the fundin'^ operations under wliich we save one-third of the in- 
terest of the national debt. iSo man would buy either a four or a live or a ten per- 
cent, bond in the face of an act of repudiation. 

Again, as the notes depreciate, it becomes more difficult to provide coin for the 
payment of the interest ; would he repudiate the obligation to pay the interest in 
coin '.' He says he is in favor of receiving greenbacks for customs duties. Will he, 
tlien, buy coin? If so, his i)olicy will already have advanced the value of coin. 

These are questions that so astute a reasoner as Judge Thurman ouglit fairly 
to answer before he persuades the people to embark in his scheme. 

WHAT .lUDGE THURMAN PROPOSES. 

He proposes to issue more notes without any provision for their payment, when 
our revenues are ample to meet onv expenditure, in a time of profound peace, when 
there is no motive of patriotism or duty or safety to impel such a course, and tJiis 
meiely to .save the interest of four per cent, on i{!;322,000,000. 



13 

But this very act, if adopted, would prevent our selling a thousand niillion of 
four per cent, bonds -Nvith which to pay an equal amount of six per cent, bonds, and 
in this way would work un annual loss to the Government of $'20,000,000, or !?8,000.- 
000 a year more than the entire saving proposed by his policy. 

Again, what moral right has the Government of the United States to require 
ite citrzens to take its notes as money and a standard of value merely for the pur- 
pose of saving the intei-est on these bonds ? In a time of war we may concede such 
a right, but in a time of peace there is no legal or moral foundation for such a claim 
unless the notes are maintained at par and redeemed at par. Is not the United 
States able to pay the interest of its notes "? 

THERE HAS BEEN CONTRACTION OF THE CURRENCY. 

Judge Thurman says there has been contraction of the currency. No one dis- 
putes that assertion. It is true that the currency has been contracted, but this has 
been done, not under the resumption act, but by the voluntary action of the banks. 
They are free to issue or retire their notes, and they have done so. 

If the special privilege about which he has discussed so much was so valuable 
to them, they would have increased their issues of bank notes, but instead of that 
the burdens imposed upon this privilege and the want of protitable use of money 
have induced the banks to reduce their circulation by a much greater amount than 
it has been increased, so that the effect has been a large decrease of the currency of 
the country, but it has not been caused b}' the resumption act. Under the resump- 
tion act the amount of currency has been somewhat increased, since the amount of 
United States notes retired since its passage is, as he states it, $35,328,98-1. But 
there was issued to national banks in place of this $44,161,230 of circulating notes. 

Now, these are the objections stated to the national banks by Ju''ge Thurman, 
and my answer to them. 

It comes back again to this: Shall we have in the United States a currency re- 
deemable in CO hi? Will we, to save interest, bear in the future all the evils of an 
irredeemable currency, tear up a system of banks infinitely better than any ever 
before enjoyed in this country, compel these banks to call in their loans and close 
up their accounts, and add to the distress of the times by dangerous and almost 
revolutionary proceedings against corporations of our own creation, which have no 
special privileges, and which contribute to the general good by paying large taxes 
and by acting as convenient localized agencies of loans and exchange. 

OREGON, FLORIDA, AND LOUISIANA. 

And here I might leave Judge Thurman's speech, but there are two or three 
points which I regret I have to answer. He saj's : 

The seat of the Chief Magi-strate — that seat that in times past has been and in all times 
shoulil be an emblem of purity ami honor— is occupied by a man who was never elected to it, and 
whose elevation was accomplishe 1 by the grossest frauds and boldest usurpations that ever dis- 
graced the history of a free people. 

This'declaration is a gross injustice, and I believe Judge Thurman will live to 
regret that ho ever made it. He was a member of the Electoral Commission which 
parsed upon the returns of the votes of electors for President. He knows that 
every electoral vote of every State cast for President Hayes was received by him 
without dispHte, without any pretension of fraud or error, except the votes of 
Oregon, Florida, and Louisiana. 

GOVERNOR TILDEN'S AGENTS IN OREGON. 

In Oregon there was an attempt by acknowledged agents of Gov. Tilden to 
cheat — I use the word in its worst meaning — the Republicans out of that vote and 
to bribe an elector, and it failed. In Florida there had been great irregularities 
and frauds committed by the Democrats, which were met, to some extent, by frauds 
on the part of Republican officers ; bitt the evidence before the returning officers, as 
well as that taken in the contest for the election of a member of the House of Rep- 
resentatives, shows that a majority of the votes in Florida were fairly cast for the 
Hayes electors. 

DEMOCRATIC CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY IN LOUL-^IANA. 

As to Louisiana, I had better means of information than Judge Thurman, and 
I say to you that the criminal conspiracy by the Democratic party of that State to 



14 

control the election of 187') so as to cast the vote of the State for Governor Tilden, 
has never been fully told. It extended to more than ten parishes or counties, and 
held in absolute terror five Republican parishes that had always since the war given 
about seven thousand Republican majority. It led to and incUided in its plan and 
scope scores of murders of Republicans, white and black, mainly intelligent black 
leaders of their race. It wounded, whipped, and maimed others, drove hundreds 
to the swami)S at night, and spread universal terror among this ignorant and super- 
stitious people who had the same legal right, and a better moral right, to vote than 
their persecutors whose hands were only recently red with the blood shed in war 
against the Union. 

The chosen agents of this infamy were Democratic rille-clubs fully armed, 
marching at night in disguise, distributing anonymous threats and occasionally ex- 
ecuting them, and giving notice to leave the parish to the more intelligent, accom- 
panied with threats and devices to excite fear and terror. 

ANDERSON AND WEBER. 

Such were the means used by the Democratic party to carry Louisiana. They 
may here and there induce a disappointed office-seeker like Anderson and Weber to 
falsify their former oaths, and even prevail upon poor negroes like Amy Mitchell 
and Mrs. Pinkston to withdraw their former depositions ; but the scores of dead 
men killed by the rifle-clubs speak from their graves, and the men who killed them 
and rode their nightly rides of terror, know in their hearts that all that has been 
said of them is true. The statements and affidavits made by these people were sub- 
mitted to the local returning officers selected by the State legislature, composed of 
two white men and two colored men, all natives of the South, and these men. who 
knew the surroundings and many of the facts, decided, in strict compliance with 
the law of that State, that under this law these parishes and polling places must be 
excluded, and it was done. Thus Governor Hayes got the vote of Louisiana as law- 
fully and fully as that of Ohio. 

All this cry of fraud and usurpation ought, in the minds of just men, to react 
with fearful eflect against the Democratic party; for it was their organized crime 
and violence that created the doubt which the returning board and Electoral Com- 
mission decided in our favor. 

MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA. 

And it must be remembered in this connection that there is a strong convic- 
tion, at least among the Republicans in this country, that the States of Mississippi 
and Alabama weresecured for Gov. Tilden by the same unlawful means, but the 
laws of those Sta'es provided no remedy, and they were counted for Tilden. 

DEMOCRATIC FRAUDS IN LOUISIANA AND NEW YORK CITY. 

.Judge Thurman should remember also that the history of the Democratic party 
has been marked in the past by great crimes against the elective franchise. The 
frauds in PLKpiemine Parish, Louisiana, and in New York ("ity, in 1844, will be 
remembered by every Whig in the land. AVholesale frauds committed in the city of 
New York in \S()X, by which tlie vote of that State was cast for Seymour instead of 
for (hant were disclosed by a Congressional Committee, and are nowadmitted facts. 

The frauds and crimes committed by the Democratic party in its attempt to 
organize the State of Kansas into a slave State were investigated by me as a mem- 
ber of a Congressional Committee, and, tlnnigh disputed at the time much more 
stoutly than the Louisiana fraud.s, are now acknowledged as facts. 

The chief frauds in this country in elections have been organized by the Demo- 
cratic party. One of the dangers which threaten the country if the Democratic 
party comes into power, will be tlie bold ami reckless use of election machinery to 
commit frauds and to organize violence, ballot-box stuffing, and kindred crimes, as 
a part of our American system of politics. 

The Republican paity, in the heat of party zeal, has done something in this 
way. I have no apf>logy to make for such crimes — no sympathy with them — and 
woidd denounce and expose sucli wrongs, by whatever ]iarty committed ; but it is 
pretty hard for us Republicans to be lectured about election frauds by members of 
the Democratic party. 



I 



15 

DEMOCRACY KELIES ON SECTIONAL FEELING. 

Again, he says: 

Fellow citizens, nothing in politics seems more certain to me than that the Repub- 
lican leaders i-est their hopes of a prolongation of their power upon the success that may 
attend a studied and energetic effort on their part to excite and perpetuate sectional 
feeling. 

It is a strange thing that the Republican party, distinguished for its national 
feeling, should be charged by the Democratic party with a desire to excite and per- 
petuate sectional feeling. 

Tlie strength of the Democratic party to-day, as before the war, lies in a united 
South, held, not only by sectional feeling, but by sectional feeling antagonistic to 
the Union, intensified by its early advocacy of States' rights, its attempt at seces- 
sion, and l)y four years of bloody and unsuccessful war against the Union. This 
sectional feeling is so rampant that it ostracises native white men who become Re- 
publicans, holds in terror the entire black poijulation, and by intimidation and os- 
tracism prevents the free exi^ression of opinion and the free vote of Republicans at 
elections in the South. The South is determined to be sectional, and as a section 
dominates the counsels of the Democratic party. 

No intelligent man can doubt that if in the cotton States there was an open, 
fair opportunity to establish newspapers, to carry on a canvass, and to appeal to the 
natural instincts and interests of the voters of those States, a majority of every one 
of them would be with the Republican party. 

PRESIDENT HAYES LABORING TO DESTROY SECTIONALISM. 

The policy of President Hayes, his earnest desire and hope, is to destroy sec- 
tionalism, to invite by kindness and forbearance a like kindness and forbearance to 
the Republicans of the South. If this eftbrt fails the South will be a slumbering 
volcano, which some day will break forth in retaliation and crime. For free men 
having constitutional rights cannot be chained by violence. Intelligence and or- 
ganization will soon enable them to assert their rights or deter the practice of such 
violence. 

The Republican party is purely a national party. Its instincts are national, its 
policy is national. In no Republican State could anything like opposition to free- 
dom of speech, freedom of the press, free discussion be tolerated, nor would any one 
for a moment be allowed to be deterred from voting as he pleased, while in some of 
the Democratic States in the South, such a thing as free speech and free press and 
reasonable toleration of opinion, is scarcely recognized. The dominant press would 
denounce as a crime what we here in the North regard as the right of every citizen 
— to speak and vote as he chooses. 

A CARICATURE OP TRUTH AND .JUSTICE. 

In the face of these facts the following statement by .Judge Thurman seems to 
me the caricature of truth and justice : 

It is not enough that the South has frankly and manfully accepted the results of the war; 
that, waiving all questions as to the mode of their adoption, no voice is raised against the bind- 
ing force of the constitutional amendments ; that every law passed by a radical Congress, 
however doubtful its constitutionality, or manifest its injustice and impolicy, is nevertheless 
obeyed. 

I pass over, as matter of taste, the inference he raises against the mode of 
adoption of the constitutional amendments, and the doubt he expresses as to the 
constitutionality of the laws to enforce them — to say that the Democratic party has 
not frankly and manfttUy accepted the results of the war ; that it does not accept, 
ob-erve, or enforce the constitutional amendments or the laws passed in aid of 
them. It is precisely of this that the Republican party complains ; it will try to 
enforce, and, though temporarily divided and defeated, will continue to demand, 
and will certainly in time secure the observance of these amendments. It was the 
organized plan to deprive the Republicans in Louisiana of the ris^jht to vote that 
occasioned the controversy there, and so in Mississippi and South Carolina. 

I have no doubt that many of the planters, business men, and property holders 
of the South, now acting with the Democratic party, are an.xious to and in time 
will be able to protect the blacks in tlieir rights, but they are not the dominating 
influence in the South. It is not they who, like Judge Tiuxrman, denounce Presi- 



and 

y 



16 

dent Ilaycs us a usurper and a fraud, but thousands of them acknowledge that the 
policy adopted by the Republican party to the people of the South at the close of 
the war was without example in generosity in the history of the world, and they 
gratefully acknowledge that the policy of President Hayes will secure to the South 
peace, order, and prosi)erity. 

THE AMENDMENTS NOT ENFOIICED IN THE SOUTH. 

But I, who supported this policy and shared in it, feel as do Republicans gen- 
erally, that the South has never frankly or manfully responded to it. They do not 
enforce the amendments. They do not give equal civil and jjolitical rights to either 
white or black Republicans. They do not i)ermit or tolerate that free expression 
of opinion, discussion, and action essential to a Republican government; 1)ut, by 
their adherence to the very elements in the North tliat encouraged them to rebel- 
lion, that brcHight upon them the very waste and desolation of which they complain, 
they repel all efforts to break down the sectionalism of the past, and make it vitally 
necessary again to concentrate the people of the North in order to secure peace, 
order, and liberty. 

". JUSTICE AND E(JUALITY" (?). 

Judge Tliurman, in conclusion, says: 

Do you wish the Union preserved? Then support those who would bind it together 
by the ties of Iraternal i'oclin^ and a common iutere.'^t. .is woll as by constitutions an ' 
laws. Do you revere justice and .advocate oriualitv nf ri'^lits? Then support the part 
on \vhos(! burner "Justice and Equality" arc indelibly inscribed. 

"Do you wish the Union preserved?" "What party ever threatened this 
Union ? What parly was arrayed in arms against it during the war, and what sac- 
rifices were made for it in the North ? Did ever any Republican seek to disturb 
the Union? ''Justice and Equality!" When did the Democratic party distin- 
gitish itself for justice and equality? 

Perhaps, fellovy^ citizens, as an Executive officer, I have erred in following Sen- 
ator Thurman in so much of his s])eech as is purely political, but I am none the less 
a Republican and a partisan, and 1 trust the time will never come when I will cease 
to liave pride in the merits and past achievements of the great i)arty to which we 
belong. It is rather hard to have the Republican party, which has done so much 
for the existence and honor of our country, assailed so unjustly by Democrats, who, 
during the trying time of our history, have been passive and neutral. I promise 
you now to adhere, during the brief time I will detain you, to the business topics 
in which we are all alike interesied. 

IJUSINESS DEPRESSION ALSO GENEUAI, ABKOAD. 

Judge Thurman says: 

Now, certainly no oni' will deny that this country lias lor the last five years suttercd, 
us ])crliaps no other country ever did sull'er, troni ilcincssion in every branch ot business 
in every industrial occupation. 

I deny this statement in toto. That this country has suftered from depression 
in many branches of business and in many industrial occupations I admit, but 
every civilized and Christian cintntry in the world has sutlered to a greater degree. 
In comi)arison with any nation of modern times our condition in every respect is 
more prosperous and happy. If you read the English, French, or German papers, 
you will find that our causes of complaint are nothing to be compared with theirs, 
while in our country there arc many circumstances which relieve the general de- 
pression. 

Let me name some of the hopeful signs of the times. 

The whole period since the war, and liefore the panic, was a debt contracting 
period. From July 1, 18(i:5, to July 1, 1><7:!, our imports exceeded our exports in 
the enormous sum of >?1,<)47,()G!»,"J1!). Much of this was for silks and furbelows, 
contracted for in tlie fa.ith of corner lots marked up, of inllated fortunes suddenly 
acquired, but most (if it was for articles that our own labor should have produced. 
It represented foreign capital loaned to our citizens and to corporadons, and paid 
for in government and corporation bonds and private notes. 

The same causes produced extravagant prices here. Wild schemes, railroads 



17 

built twenty years in advance of their need, reckless expenditures led to the con- 
tracting of numerous debts, and to the mortgaging of our corporations, homes, and 
farms. 

Since the panic the whole condition of our trade and business has changed. 
Since 1874 our exports have exceeded our imports in the sum of .|507,45i),237. 

During the last fiscal year the excess of exports was 1257,459,250, the aggre- 
gate of our exports reaching the sum of $(380,083,708, and during this liscal year 
this excess of exports is increasing. This is a debt paying process. The great 
body of the debts contracted before the panic is now settled, either by payment or 
bankruptcy, or readjustment. 

OUR BONDS NOW HELD AT HOME. 

At one time it was estimated that the amount of United States bonds held 
abi'oad approached $1,000,000,000. Two years ago the general estimate was about 
$600,000,000. JSTow, after the most careful examination, it is estimated somewhere 
near $200,000,000 to $2.50.000,000. 

The comir.on fear exjn-essed for the success of any plan of resumption was that 
foreign nations could at once, by a return of our bonds, exhaust our gold and thus 
defeat resumption, but this is no longer to be feared when the surplus exports for a 
single year would pay off every dollar of our national debt held be3'ond the limits 
of the United States. 

Last winter, when an exaggerated fear prevailed in Europe as to the effect of 
the Silver Bill, $60,000,000 of our bonds were promptly absorbed by our own peo- 
ple in sixty days, and, although this stopped the sale of bonds by the Treasury, it 
strengthened our position by bringing them home. 

Another favorable sign of the times is the very large increase of domestic pro- 
duction, both of the farm and of the workshop, wliich*not only fill the place of goods 
heretofore imported, but enable us to compete with foreign nations in their own 
mai'kets. 

WONDERFUL INCREASE IN EXPORTS. 

I have here a recent table showing the increase of leading exports of our own 
production. This shows that our exports of cotton, iron, steel, copper, leather, and 
other manufactures has increased within ten years nearly two-fold, and that the 
exports of our agricultural implements and provisions have increased nearly three- 
fold. The total amount of certain leading commodities exported in 1868 was 
$141,000,000, and in 1878 was $404,000,000, showing an increase of $2G;{, 000,000. 

Another table shows that our importation of certain fabrics which we can readily 
make in this country has diminished nearly one-half. Of textile fabrics, including 
manufactures of cotton, silk, clothing, and dress goods, the amount imported into 
this country in 1873 was $150,000,000; the amount imported in 1878 was 885,000,000, 
making a diminution of $74,000,000, most of which was supplied by our own pro- 
duction. 

FALLING OFF OP IMPORTS. 

The im])orts of iron and steel in various forms in 1873 was $59,308,452, while 
1878 it had fallen to $9,057,633, showing a diminution of $50,250,849. This falhng 
off was .supplied by our own industry. 

The total of the leading manufactures named in this table imported in 1873 
was $272,957,633 and during the fi.scal year ending June 30, 1878, it was $124,211,- 
734, making a falling off of $148,747,809. This great decrease was especially no- 
ticeable in the imports of manufactures of cotton, silk, wool, iron, and steel. 

This increase of our exports and diminution of our imports is perhaps the 
most remarkable in modern times. 

We are competing in cotton fabrics with Manchester, in cutlery with Sheffield, 
in iron and steel with Birmingham, in watches with Switzerland, and in gloves with 
France. It is a debt-paying and trade-develoi^ing process that is adding immensely 
to our wealth. 

REDUCTION OP INTEREST OP DEBT. 

Our progress towards resumption is accompanied by increased national credit, 
and by a large reduction of the interest of the public debt. 

Under the refunding act, which is designed to convert our six per cent, bonds 
into bonds bearing a lower rate of interest, we have already sold at par in (join, 



18 

500 millions of five per cent, bonds, 246 millions of four and a half per cent, bonds, 
and 135 millions of four per cent, bonds, the proceeds of which (except 90 millions 
sold for gold coin now iu hand) have been applied to pay an equal amount of six 
per cent, debt, making an annual saving in the interest of the debt, of ten millions 
of dollars ; and we are now daily selling the four per cent, bonds directly to the 
people upon the basis of a popular loan in sums as low as $50. These bonds have 
become the savings banks of the people, a safe deposit for their surplus money, 
always available for use when needed, and depending upon the honor of the nation, 
and, therefore, safe from loss. 

The most satisfactory feature of this loan is that it is held in small sums by 
great numbers of our fellow-citizens, and is distributed throughout all the States 
in the Union During the first twenty days of tlie present month our sales of four 
per cent, bonds amount to !ti:30,000,000, and I now have the confident assurance that 
during this year they will exceed lt>100,000,000, and will pay off all the 5-20 six per 
cent, bonds of the issue of 1865. 

PRODUCTION OF GOLD AND SILVER. 

The United States is now the largest producer of gold and silver in the world. 
During the last year the estimated production of gold was $45,000,000, and of sil- 
ver $39,000,000, and, though the Comstock lode gives evidence of exhaustion, 
other mines are being discovered, and the probabilities arc that our production will 
increase rather than diminisli. This is an important element in the question of our 
ability to maintain resumption. 

DEVELOPMENT OV AGKICULTUKE. 

Then, again, the enormous development of our agricultural production, the 
chief employment of our peojile, gives a source of wealth and prosperity unexam- 
pled in any nation in modern times. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Can- 
ada to the Gulf of Mexico, our country has been blessed with bountiful liarvests, 
assuring plenty of food to all our i)eople, and an increase of our exports to Europe. 
I understand that a rich stream of wheat is now pouring into your port for ship- 
ment. 

It is this industry which lies at the foundation of our prosperity, and which in- 
vites now millions of laborers to aid in the develoi^ment of uncultivated lands. 
The war withdrew from agriculture millions of laborers who are again invited to 
.join in this most healthftd and ha])py pursuit of life, and the crowded cities are 
freely invited to send their sui-plus population to fruitful fields, and bountiful 
harvests. 

After the war of 1812 the migration commenced which peopled Ohio, Indiana, 
and Illinois, and, although there are no such rich lands open now for settlement, 
yet Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, and the whole tier of .States west of the Missouri 
river, together with the undeveloped Territories of the NVest, invite migration and 
insure to labor a just reward, and offer facilities for transport:ition and settlement 
Xbat our fathers did not enjoy. 

LABOR QUESTION. 

And now, fellow-citizens, in conclusion, let me invite your attention briefly to 
the agitation of the labor question, not only in this country, but in other countries 
where production has exceeded consumption and thrown out of employment many 
industrious laboring men, and paralyzed important branches of industry, especially 
of the iron and coal industries. 

I know that in some places labor is depressed, that wages are low, that many 
a willing hand finds it hard to get work, and .•sometimes hungry men, women, and 
children want fool and clothing; and sliamc be to him who does not sympathize 
with such suffering and relieve it if possible. No wonder that honest labor grows 
soured at the inequalities of life, and sometimes listens to the cry of the dema- 
gogue that human laws have caused this distress, and that if he was in office he 
could furnish redress 

THE SAME LABOU DISTHKSS TnROU<ai0UT 1 lilOPE. 

The same distress in a far greater degree exists iu Great Britain, France, Ger- 
many, and all civilized nations, whatever may be their forms of currency or stand- 



19 

arcls of value. The onlj^ remedy would seem to be to pursue new iudustries aud 
seek new markets to be supplied. Our own country is blessed with cheap lands 
inviting labor, and the energy of our own people, as I have shown, is already dis- 
coveriiig increased employment in supplying productions heretofore made abroad, 
and in sending our home productions to foreign countries. All that the Govern- 
ment can do within its limited powers it ought to do to encourage, protect;, and 
foster labor. 

And I can say of our laws and institutions that they are far more favorable to 
the laboring man than those of any other country; and any idea, or reform, or 
measure that is proposed to relieve and protect labor finds in the Republican party 
its earnest and sympathetic advocate. That party has done more for the protection 
and development of labor than any other. 

Our Constitution and laws guarantee to every man equal civil and political 
rights. Property is more equally distributed here than elsewhere, except in France, 
and excluding the negroes who but recently acquired the right to vote, a greater 
proportion of our citizens are property holders. More than two-thirds of our voters, 
with this exception, are property holders, and the. rest want to be, hope to be, and 
can be. 

This country of ours is not a permanent field for tramps and communists. Our 
laws for the distribution of property tend directly and rapidly to distribute large * 

' IVoperty here is required to pay more tribute to labor than in any country in 
the world. 

GOVERNMENT WILL PROTECT LABOR. 

Property educates the children, maintains all your charitable institutions, youi 
streets, roads, and local improvements, and all parts of National, State, and local 
government. 

The very few taxes that attach to those who have no property are on whisky, 
tobacco, and beer, which are voluntary taxes. _ , 

If the Government can do more to protect labor, it will. It oifers to every citi- 
zen a homestead on the public lands. It offers every man an equal chance. Every 
office and honor is open to equal competition, and it gives to no man rank, title, or 
advantage except what he himself acquires. 

This is all that a free government can do. It can not take the property of the 
rich and divide it among the poor. It cannot, as is proposed, take the public treas- 
ure, collected by taxes, and distribute it in any other way than for the limited proper 
objects provided for by the Constitution. It cannot control contracts men make 
with each other, except where they are grossly immoral or violate public policy. 
Its office is spent when it secures freedom, equality, and an equal chance in the race 

of life. , .,1.111- 

While the sympathies of the Republican party must ever be with the laboring 
man, it cannot violate the fundamental principles of free government, in order to 
favor any class, or refuse to protect any class in the enjoyment of life, property, 
aud the fruits of labor. , , 

In the general management of your affairs the Republican party has aone all 
that it could do to develop the national resources and maintain the national honor, 
to protect all men in equal rinhts, to secure to all men equal privileges and an equal 
chance in life; and it is ready to adopt any proper and constitutional mode ot re- 
lievino- distress and advancing the interests of any portion of the people. 1 can 
safely appeal to all of vou who have shared in the honors aud labors ot this party, 
to still stand by its tiag, now that the difficulties of the recent past are passing 
away, with the full hoi)e that our country, always advancing and prospering since 
liberty was first proclaimed by our Revolutionary fathers, is still destined to ad- 
vance under the guidance of the Republican party, to higher honor and greater 
prosperity. 



20 

APPENDIX A. 

Values of the princijyal commodities of domestic production, the exportation of which 
greatly increased from June 30, 1808, to June 30, 1878. 



Commodities. 


Year ending June 30, 


Increase. 


1868. 1878. 


Agricultural implements 

Live animals 


i 

.$673,381 i $2,575,198 

733,395 1 5,844.053 

68,9311,997 i 181,774.507 

1,516,220 i 2,359,467 

939,250 3,078,349 

4,871,054 11,435,628 

400,512 1.376,969 

6,389,429 • 12:084,048 

1,414,372 8,077,659 

2.9!3,44S ; 5,i 95,163 

21,810,676 46,574,974 

30,278,2:.3 123,54,1,986 


$1,901,817 

5.111,258 

112,793,510 

843,247 
2,139,099 
5,364,574 

970,457 
.'5,694.019 
6,6 3,287 
2,181,715 


Coal 


Copper, brass, and manufactures of 


Fruit 


Iron, steel, and manufactures of 


Leather, and manufactures of 

Oil-cake 




Provisions 


93.271,733 




Total 


140,926,987 l 403,826,601 


262,899,614 





APPENDIX B. 

Values of the principal comm.odities of foreign production, the importation of which 
greatly decreased from June 30, 1873, to June 30, 1878. 



Commodities. 



Value imported during 
year ending- 



June 30,1873. 



June 30,1878, 



Decrease 
since 1873. 



Clocks, watches, and materials. 



Textile/^: 
Manufactures of cotton , 
^Manufactures of flax . . 
Manufactures of silk . . 
Clothing 

Wool : 
Unmanufactured . . . . 

Carpets 

Dress goods 

Other inanufaetur's of. . 



$3,274,825 



$'«12,582 



29, 
21, 

29,835,867 
S,551,161 



116 

■:jQ\. 



938 



21 



14,398,791 
11,490.758 
19,701,731 
6,676,789 

8.363,015 

39.s,3:r9 

12,055.8 6 

12,269,b52 



Total textiles 159,464,24S 



85,355.131 



, Iron and steel : 
Bar, rod, sheet, and hoop . . 

Iron in pigs 

Railroad bars 

Anehdrs. chain.«, and other. 
Steel ingot;-, bars. &c . . . . 
Steel cutlery, saws, &c . . . 



7,477,556 
13,847,281 
19,74 '.702 
3,594,900 
4,155,234 
10,492,779 



1.63^.707 
1,250,057 
53J 
920,790 
1.220,037 
4,035,512 



Total iron and steel , 



Oopi)er, brass, and manufactures of 

Lead in pigs and bars 

Tin and tini)lates 

India rubber and guttapercha . . . 
Tea . . 



_59.3J8,452 

3,966,471 

3,222,627 

18.366,a'.3 

900,187 

24,4(;6.17ii 



9,157.633 



617,188 
353,936 

12,112,532 
242,504 

15.660,168 



Grand total ... 272,959,633 , 124,211,734 



$2.462,243 



15,353,.325 
8,907,533 

10,134,136 
1,874,372 

12.0-0,923 

3,989,868 

7,391,991 

14,356,869 



74,109,117 



5,846,849 
12,597,224 

10,741,172 
2,(374,110 
2,935,197 
6.457.267 



60,. 51.819 



3,349,283 
2,818,191 
6,244,121 
657,623 
8,806,002 



148.747,89:t 



